We experience all four seasons here and sometimes they don’t line up with our agenda. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make the most of our outdoor space!
I can’t begin to tell you all the times we’ve spent preparing the outdoor classroom and play yard and the weather ends up not cooperating. On top of that, sometimes we will have days on end of nothing but rain! I don’t know about you, but after a few days of zero outdoor play my students start to lose their marbles…and so do I!
The Day We Decided to Go for it
This situation happened recently for us. The forecast was predicting rain for at least a week and the predictions were turning into a reality. Yikes! On the third straight day of rain, I looked at Deborah and said, “I can’t spend another afternoon inside and neither can my students, we WILL go outside today!” Thankfully, she agreed!
What we Did to Prepare
We had already had the outdoor classroom space set up as a backup plan, just in the chance we had to retreat from the rain. We layered on our hoods, rain jackets, and boots. It had been raining for a couple days already so the ground was a little soft!
We opened and handed out all the umbrellas that we could. We made sure there were a few towels on hand for any muddy boots. Once everyone was ready, we headed on out the door!
What Ended up Happening
When we first dismissed for outdoor play, there was a light drizzle. The biggest thing I noticed was how little the rain bothered my students. They were perfectly content! A handful of students stomped in puddles on the driveway, some decided they wanted to go to the outdoor classroom, and the rest played as they normally would in our mulched area. They dug for worms, just like they do every day.
By the end of it all, everyone was soaked. There wasn’t much that was different about this outdoor play. However, it was probably one of the best outdoor play experiences we have had this school year.
Things to Consider
- Make sure you have extra towels on hand for when you bring your students back inside, they will need a place to ditch their wet boots.
- Invest in a good set of umbrellas, even if some students don’t want to use them.
- Keep an open mind going into the experience, you never know what amazing things could happen!
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At the beginning of the school year (and sporadically throughout the year) I warn my parents that we go out EVERY day no matter what the weather is (unless, of course, we feel that it may not be safe) and that extra clothes are a must. Living in the Pacific NW, if we didn’t go out in all kinds of weather we would have some antsy kids and teachers for sure! I love that you’re promoting that philosophy as well.
🙂
I have the philosophy that there is no bad weather only poor clothing choices. However, unfortunately, where we live, most of the time we don’t have just rain, we have lightning, so playing in the rain isn’t safe. I wish it was because as a child I loved playing in the rain; I grew up in Kansas. We live in Northern Louisiana now. We live in a temperate climate and most of our children do not own winter coats because they would outgrow them before they got much use out of the coat. If it is very cold as in 32 or below, we usually have to stay indoors as well. It is sad because kids really don’t care what the weather is like as long as they are dressed for it.
I have asked parents to donate boots and jackets that their kids have outgrown so I have extras on hand. I’m not sure why, but I always have at least one student in each class who won’t bring a coat to school…even when temps are freezing!
We keep extras on hand too, and always end up using them!